


Final Fantasy: The Last Awakened - A Golden Miracle

by Flaming_Cynner



Series: Final Fantasy: The Last Awakened [2]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VII
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2020-11-22 11:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20873789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flaming_Cynner/pseuds/Flaming_Cynner
Summary: Arc One of the Final Fantasy: The Last Awakened Series.After agreeing to team up with his Guardian Beast, Nix, Iszac Cynth begins his quest to build his powers as an Awakened and prepare to fight evil. But to do that, he must first find out what kind of warrior he wants to be. He also must find a weapon that resonates well with him. He finds the great weapons collector and samurai Gilgamesh amongst Crystal River and in exchange for a weapon, must travel to Gaia(The World of Final Fantasy 7) and search for an artifact known as the Golden Materia, which contains an ancient magic called Miracle. But is the artifact a bit more trouble to get for what power it holds?





	1. Mission from a Legendary Warrior

“You will? You mean it?” Nix asked.

“Yeah… I recently met some awesome people, and I couldn’t stop thinking about them going through the pain that those shadows give last night… I wouldn’t want to wish that pain on anyone.” Iszac said, balling up his fists, “Not even my enemies. If I can do something about it, then I will.”

“Now that is the spirit of a warrior right there.” Nix pointed at Iszac enthusiastically. “Well, first thing’s first… you’re gonna need a weapon and a hero’s class.”

Iszac blinked and moved his head back. “Wait, there’s a class on becoming a hero? I didn’t think I’d have to go back to college for a prophecy.” Iszac said in joking disgust, “Forget that.”

Nix deadpanned. “... You got the ‘coming out of the closet’ joke last night, huh?”

Iszac smirked smarmily, “You think you’re the only one who’s got jokes? You should watch my videos.”

Nix shook his head. “Any. Way. No, it’s not technically a class, it’s basically the profile of the kind of warrior you are. But, I assume you already know this, you have played video games.”

Iszac nodded. “Yeah, I have, I just wanted to give you a hard time.”

“I noticed.” Nix sighed. “But, there are many different classes you can choose from, The basic categories are Fighter, Mage, Thief, or Monk, but thanks to the universe becoming more complex with time, the class system has broadened overtime as well.”

Iszac’s eyes widened as he got flashbacks of the online ‘unofficial, and unmanual’ D&D sessions he’s been a part of. “Umm… can’t we just not do classes? I don’t really labelling myself and limiting my potential as a warrior.”

Nix glared at Iszac in annoyance. “... As far as this conversation is concerned, your class is Brat.”

Iszac did a double take. “Excuse me?! If I’m a Brat, then your class is Animagus!”

Nix slowly turned around, glaring more ferociously. “You. Take. That. Back.”

Iszac crossed his arms. “Well, you’re the one who turns into a cat, I haven’t seen you turn into… what was it you said, ‘Guardian Beast’? You are plush toy Kero from Cardcaptor Sakura at best, and even then, that’s stretching it, because plush toy Kero could fly!”

Nix balled up his fists. “I don’t know what that means, but you are really pushing the sass limit, Cynth. If you think you can take me on, then we can settle on who is the teacher, and who is the student.”

Iszac’s eyes widened as he took a step back, realizing Nix had a height advantage. “... I’m sorry, I just don’t know what kind of fighter I am, I’ve never really fought anyone… I guess for now, I guess I could just be a Student.” Iszac said.

Nix blinked and turned back around, calming down. “... No, I’m the one who should be sorry… can’t exactly give a class to someone who’s just dipping his feet into the world of fighting…” He said, then thought about it. “... I mean… Student could be considered a class… It doesn’t really limit your potential, but could either be seen as a label, or title… Sorry for calling you a brat.” 

Iszac looked down. “Sorry I called you an Animagus…” He looked back up at him. “Truce?”

Nix nodded. “Truce. Well, since it took a bit of heated discussion, we’ve found your class, Student; Full of potential, and willing to learn anything for combat.” Nix smirked at Iszac. "Of course, you're able to change it if you wish."

“Gotcha. So, the next thing is a weapon? Where are we gonna get a weapon?” Iszac tilted his head at Nix who walked over to the gigantic archway.

“We’ll go through to some place that has weapons. I have a place in mind.” Nix said, pulling out a gemstone, and throwing it into the archway, turning it into a portal.

“W-Wait, where are we going?” Iszac asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take you anywhere you’d be in total danger.” Nix said, holding out his hand. “Not until you’re ready.”

Iszac looked at Nix and took his hand, and walked with him. “Oh thanks I feel so much better now.” He responded uneasily sarcastic.

The two partners went on through, being engulfed in light, until they went out of another portal that had manifested. 

“C-Crystal River?” Iszac asked, looking around, they had made it back to Crystal River, it was a familiar five-way intersection. But something seemed off… He felt like, something had changed, not the surroundings, but the aura… He felt a powerful presence coming from Ramuh’s Trinkets.

“Oh yes, this is where we need to go.” Nix said, “Follow me.” He said, walking toward the curio shop, Iszac going after him.

They walked in, and saw that nothing had changed in the curio shop. Behind the counter was Mr. Kurogane, dusting the shelves. He looked behind him with a friendly smile.

“Oh, welcome welcome, please feel free to look around… Oh, I know you. You bought the Medallion!” Mr. Kurogane made conversation, “Oh, Melodia’s off doing some errands, she won’t be back until later.

“O-Oh, that’s good, I hope she’ll be safe.” Iszac said, but got nudged in the side by Nix, not wanting to waste any time.

“Good, so it’s just us.” Nix said, walking up to the counter. “... It’s seems the Judgement Bolt has readied.” Nix recited, leaning on the counter.

Suddenly, the friendly atmosphere, became cold and tense. Mr. Kurogane’s usually joyous face got serious, giving Nix intense eye contact.

“But has Hellfire threatened our existence?” Mr. Kurogane asked, not breaking away.

“It has, but we have found our Ruby Light, and he shall bless the universe with Holy Judgement.” Nix replied, locking eyes.

Iszac’s eyes widened, taking a step back in terror, being overwhelmed by the stare down, and the energy they gave off. He noticed that there was a wall of light around the door and the shop window.

“... So he really is the one?” Mr. Kurogane whispered, leaning in closely to not be overheard.

“Yes, he has accepted the prophecy. He needs a weapon, think you can hook him up with one, Gilgamesh?” Nix responded quietly, earning a smirk from Mr. Kurogane.

“Heh... I haven’t heard that name in many millennia…” Mr. Kurogane sighed contentedly, closing his eyes, and his posture straightened, and he began to grow in height, to as tall as Nix, more muscular, and his hair grew longer, and fuller, his shirt, and pants turned into a red samurai’s casual kimono. Iszac couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“M-Mr. Kurogane..?” Iszac asked, eyes widening as he saw the once old man, change to what he could describe as, ‘a vision of handsome beauty only captured in paintings and online art commissions.’ He felt unworthy of looking at someone this gorgeous, he didn’t even noticed he was speechless.

“... Stop being a thirsty hoe, he’s not on the market and way out of your league, age group, and beyond..” Nix deadpanned, bringing Iszac back to reality.

“Let the boy have his fantasy, Nix, after all, reality is harsh enough as it is.” ‘Mr. Kurogane’ said as he stepped from behind the counter and went over to Iszac, stopping only a few feet in front of him to inspect him. “He may not look like much, but he does have a lot of potential, and room to grow. There is a reason I sold it to him in the first place, after all. He will make a great warrior.”

“... T-Thanks… but who are you?” He asked, looking at Nix.

“This is the Master of Weapons, Wielder of the Four Blades, Legendary Traveling Swordsman, Gilgamesh. Although, I never would have pegged him for someone to settle down and set up an antique shop.”

“It’s a good cover, and no one bothers you. Plus, it helps me to see how far people have come from a long time ago.” Gilgamesh smirked and began to walk toward the back area of the shop. “Follow me.”

They both had followed Gilgamesh to the back of the shop to a large door with a strange symbol on it. Gilgamesh raised his hand, his index finger glowing gold, and he traced out the strange symbol over the door. The traced pattern went into the door’s pattern and there was a big click heard throughout the store. As soon as Gilgamesh opened the door, a sudden burst of light filled the room, and the curio shop changed to that of an underground weapons convention. Swords lined the walls, bows were propped up, axes, spears, staves, rods, guns, daggers, gauntlets, it seemed there was a weapon of every single make and model. There were even different kinds of unconventional weapons. It was like seeing that Heaven was packing, and everyone was surprisingly okay with it.

“W-Woah… this is incredible… amazing…” Iszac was in awe, trying to find the words.

“I collected a lot of weapons throughout my travels, but my legendary four are sealed away and only come to my calling. But look around, chosen one, see what is to your liking and I shall give you a price.”

Iszac blinked, and looked at Gilgamesh. “P-Price?”

“Well, I mean, this is a shop, Iszac. And plus, you’re the one with the job.” Nix shrugged and began looking at the gauntlets and claws.

“If I’m paying, then why do you think you’re about to get a weapon?! You can change forms, I’d be surprised if you couldn’t manifest your own weapon!” Iszac shouted angrily. “Gee… I guess being a hero costs your life and your wallet…” Iszac sighed again as he looked around. He would be so cool with a sword, but some of them looked to be too big for his liking. Plus, he couldn’t conceal something like that. Spears, Axes, and polearms are out of the question as well. 

“Umm, Mr. Gilgamesh…?” Iszac asked as he looked around. “I can only assume that Melodia doesn’t know the truth about you?”

“Please call me Gilgamesh.” He responded but then sighed as he followed Iszac. “No, she doesn’t. She is… in a way… related to me… My granddaughter of hundreds of generations great. But only to me, and not the persona I assume in your world.” He said solemnly. “She grew up on the other side of Crystal River, the west side, closer to where Crystal Waves Park is located. Her mother is bedridden in the hospital, father vanished. She was looking for a new place to live. I had bought the property and put up an ad for employment. The rest is history.” He explained, walking alongside Iszac.

“Oh wow… talk about a chance encounter… did you know right away?” Iszac looked at Gilgamesh as they continued walking, searching for a weapon that resonated with Iszac.

“Heh, it was like fate tugging at the chain around my neck, I couldn’t figure it out at first, but I knew there was something special about her. I even offered her room and board in the upstairs apartment, but she said she wanted to work for her room. I wouldn’t hear of it, but then she told me about the city I was in and how dynamics worked around here. She offered to make a website, a blog, and a… TubeYou channel… about the shop…” Gilgamesh trailed off with a voice crack.

“Everything went over your head?” Iszac chucklingly asked.

“Like a dragon high in the sky.” Gilgamesh blushed embarrassed. “So I made her a deal, her room was free if she maintained the website, blog, and the channel, while I cook, clean, dealt with finances.”

“That seems like a pretty good deal. It really was like you two were brought together by two different winds that made the same wind current.” Iszac thought out loud. “Wait, the finances?”

“Normally, from my time I would say that I would get 80, she gets 20. But she’s kin, which made the original deal 70:30. I take 70, she gets left over 30.” Gilgamesh said. “She doesn’t look like it, but she is a great negotiator. She managed to get me down to 50:50.” 

“Wow, you are such a cheapskate.” Iszac looked in disappointment.

“Back in my time, I was a sword for hire, I had to manage my time and money wisely, which lead to me being a bit clingy to the coin.” Gilgamesh explained. “That and not a lot of women had high paying jobs. But I learned real quick that women nowadays are not to be trifled with, especially when it comes to Melodia. She is self taught in martial arts, and carries brass knuckles with her.”

“Good for her, she’s a well prepared young woman.” Iszac was holding the daggers, getting a feel for them.

“Which is why I conceded and took the deal. She really takes after me; fierce, charismatic, and stubborn. But at the same time, she’s kind, calculated, and composed. Gilgamesh smiled in pride. “She’s come so far…”

“Wow, I never thought that I could see Gilgamesh be proud of being an ancestor to such a capable person like Melodia.” Nix said, leaning on the wall near them, tossing up a blitzball.

“I didn’t think highly of her at first, but she’s growing on me… And she’s taught me so much, I didn’t think I would have learned anything else in my entire life if it wasn’t for her. I owe her my bloodline and more.” Gilgamesh’s usually stone glare had softened into gracious bliss, “And I’m not even Gilgamesh when I’m with Melodia… she just makes me so proud…”

“My guess is you’ve never been in a position where you’ve had a family to care for. Like, you have been traveling, fighting, and working hard for yourself, and somewhere along the way, you had a bloodline that made it back to this day and age. And now learning about yourself, your lineage, you’ve finally found someone to care about, someone to protect, to make the fight mean something.” Iszac went on to say, smiling. “You have come a very long way, Gilgamesh, and Melodia is proof of that.”

“If that’s your way of telling me I’m old, you have a rather charming character.” Gilgamesh side-eyed Iszac with a smirk. “Cause anyone else would have tasted the steel of Excalibur.”

“You mean Excalipoor?” Nyx asked smart-ass-ily. 

“… I’m this close to shoving Excali-BUR right up yours. I swear to Alexander.” Gilgamesh held up his hand showing that his two fingers were a hair close to touching.

“Oooh! I like this one.” Iszac ran over to pick up two identical daggers and swung them around.

“Ah, you’ve picked a rare weapon, the Daggerbow, Dual Daggers that can attach at the hilt and become a stringless bow, and fires arrows made of your power. A perfect stealth weapon for a Mystic Thief.” Gilgamesh walked over to Iszac, staying far enough to not get hit. “But as Nix has told me, your class is known as ‘Student’?” 

“Uhh… yeah… I don’t really want to limit myself to a specific warrior class… So I basically made myself a class that’s always learning, and adapting to new skills.” Iszac explained.

“Heh, I like that. Pretty innovative, but a warrior is more than just smarts, I want to see if you have the guts and strength to fight.” Gilgamesh laughed and put his hands behind his back.

“... You spent a whole generation trying to battle a man who never knew who you were. And you are saying that a warrior is more than just smarts?” Nix pointed out.

“That was a different time and that is in the past, and I will thank you to not bring up my face paint days ever again.”

“Since when have your face paint days ever ended?” Nix jerked his head back.

“Can you two stop for a hot minute… Please…? Gilgamesh… what do you have in mind?” Iszac smiled through the frustration and annoyance.

“Well, as an Awakened, you are able to build your power with the company of strong warriors, and are able to strengthen said warriors in vice versa. So… I want you to start building up your power, and in order to do that, you have to build bonds with warriors.” Gilgamesh explained and smiles. “And I think I know just where to have you start building up your bonds, and building your party.” Gilgamesh said, smiling, as he reached in his kimono sleeve, and gave Nix a gem.

“Gaia?” Nix asked, looking up.

“There are many different capable warriors, who knows, you might be able to find others who are willing to lend you their strength, especially in that world, they have some particularly intimidating characters. But of course, there is a catch. This will be treated like a mission for you, Iszac. I wish for you to retrieve an artifact called Materia for me, but this Materia I’m after is known as the Gold Materia, it holds a magic called Miracle, no one knows what it can do, but one is only in existence.”

“You are willing to risk the chosen one for a powerful artifact that no one know what it does?!” Nix growled, “All for what?! What do you hope to gain from this?!”

“... Let’s just say that… I have my valid reasons.” Gilgamesh turned away and smirks.

“You just want to add to your collection and bring up business for your shop!” Nix shouted.

“I mean, as much as we are a curiosity shop, we are also a pawn shop, consistent flow of goods in and out of the store makes for a good rise in popularity, and has us move on up in the world of Crystal City. And I believe there is more to this City than meets the eye.” Gilgamesh stated, earning a confused glare from Nix as he walks back to the door.

“So in short, we do an errand for you and it also helps us out in return?” Iszac asked, “As in… Quid pro quo?” 

“More like a win-win situation. And if all goes well, the universe may win.” Gilgamesh said, turning to them.

Iszac looked at the Daggerbow in his hands, and thought about it. “What about the Daggerbow?”

“Think of it as an advance in the rest of the reward I provide if you are successful.” Gilgamesh said, holding his hand out to Iszac with a business-man attitude, it was like making an offer no one could refuse.

Iszac looked at the Daggerbow and nodded, calculating everything. He walked over to Gilgamesh, looked him straight in the eye, and shook his hand.

“We accept.” Iszac said. “After all, since I was probably supposed to go to different worlds anyway, it’s good to have some goals while in said world.” He smiled, much to Gilgamesh’s appreciation.

“At least someone is thinking about the big picture rather than harping on a minor detail.” Gilgamesh said, side-eyeing Nix.

“You stalked a 20 year old man who doesn’t remember his first encounter with you in order to duel with him and gain validation as a warrior, you have no reason to throw shade when you cast the biggest shadow in the wrong direction.” Nix was unfazed by the timeless centurion.

“Gah! Enough of this.” Gilgamesh growled as he opened the door, making the room turn back into Ramuh’s Trinkets. Gilgamesh had shrunk back down into the guise of Mr. Kurogane, and looked at both of them. “Now, don’t forget the Gold Materia, and have a safe journey you two.” He said, ushering them out of the back area of the shop.

Suddenly, a bell jingled as the front door opened. 

“Sorry it took so long, Mr. Kurogane, I had to go through the farmer’s district to get to the West side of the River, good news though; we’ll make some beef and pork dumplings tonight!” Melodia said as she walked in after walking in with different bags. She wore a yellow and white striped shirt, dark blue denim overalls, and red sneakers, her hair was tied in a scrunchie in a low ponytail this time. She looked up and saw all three men just stepping into the shop front.

“Ah, Melodia! Perfect timing, it seems Iszac was telling me how good of a purchase the medallion was! He was wondering if we had any ear studs that go with it.” ‘Mr. Kurogane’ said with his usual friendly smile.

“Oh! I’m glad, Iszac, it’s good to see you again, wow, the Medallion looks good on you!” Melodia said, walking over to them, and looked at the Medallion on Iszac’s neck. “Oooh, beautiful kilt again! I didn’t know it came in rainbow!”

“Thank you, Melodia, I always try to wear what makes me feel comfortable, and umm, don’t listen to Mr. Kurogane, I don’t even have my ears pierced…” Iszac blushed a bit about the ear studs part.

“Hehe, I figured as much, oh, I’m so sorry, I wish I could talk, but these groceries need to get put away, and I really need to pee… I hope to talk to you later!” Melodia said swiftly, steppy-stepping as she was talking before she ran past them, behind the counter and up the stairs.

“S-See you later…” Iszac managed to get out before disappeared upstairs. “Wow, she’s fast…”

“Well, enough chit-chat, you two must be off now.” ‘Mr. Kurogane’ said as he ushered them to the door. “And remember, bonds can be made, but bonds can be broken as well, and breaking the wrong bond can be the difference between winning and losing.” He pointed out as he shooed him and Nix out the door and closed it, and a second later, the OPEN sign was turned to CLOSED. Both men stood outside the shop and then looked at each other.

“Well… Melodia seems nice.” Nix said to break the silence as they went back over to where they came from before going into the shop.

“She is, I just wish I could talk to her more, she seems like a cool person.” Iszac said as he followed alongside Nix. “But more importantly… How do you know Gilgamesh? And how did you know he was Mr. Kurogane?”

“Well, you could say we’ve met during various times during Gilgamesh’s travels, I was a recurring character in his journey, plus when different souls have made contact with each other multiple times, you get a sense of familiarity.” Nix shrugged as he went through the portal that was made back to the Crystal Forest.

“I see… Well, I’m curious to see what Gaia is all about.” Iszac said, then turned to Nix and gestured to the still active archway. 

“Are you sure you’re ready for this? We haven’t even seen you in combat yet, shouldn’t we try combat out a minute?” Nix insisted, “Because these worlds we’ll be going to, there will be a lot of creatures and people that’ll try to do us in, not unlike your former friend.”

Iszac thought about it and shook his head. “We can do combat as we go along, I mean, it’s not like you won’t be with me.” He smiled as he began to fasten the straps of the sheathes that holster the daggers on the belt of the kilt, equipping them like so.

Nix sighed a bit uneasily. “Okay, but I must warn you that there will be times where I might be unable to come out and help you in combat, but I will be confined to your Medallion during those times.” He warned, “I can still communicate with you in your mind, but during those times, you’ll be on your own.”

Iszac blinked and bit his lip. “U-Uhh… Understood… I’ll do my best.”

Nix nodded. “Didn’t sound convincing, but close enough.” He said, as he took out the gem Gilgamesh gave him, and threw it at the archway, the portal changed a different color and and it threw back the gem that Nyx threw to get to Ramuh’s Trinkets. Nix looked at Iszac and took hold of his hand, guiding him to the front of the portal.

“Alright… on the count of three… one… two… three!” Iszac said, and then jumped into the portal with Nix. 


	2. A Ribbon To Remember You By

All of a sudden, light engulfed the two of them as they went deeper into the portal. Eventually, there was all darkness. Iszac grunted as he groggily opened his eyes, trying to adjust to the light level. He eventually got a bit of touch bearings. He was on a soft, soily ground, with something around his legs and arms brushing up against them. He fluttered his eyes a bit and sat up. He was sitting in a bed of flowers. He looked around, hoping to find Nix, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“Nix? Nix, where are you?” He asked, holding his head a bit, and slowly got up, and looked at his surroundings, he was in an open-roof church, the sun was shining bright, and the flowers weren’t harmed or squished from Iszac laying on top of them. He walked carefully around the flowers and turned around to re-look at the flowers. He gasped as he suddenly saw a young woman crouched down, tending to the flowers.

“O-Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there! I didn’t mean to fall on your flowers, I didn’t fall on you did I?” Iszac asked frantically, concerned for the young woman. But she suddenly got up and turned around slowly, she was a young woman with long braided brown hair tied back in a ribbon with segmented bangs. She wore a pink dress with a red bolero jacket. She wore a smile on her face.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re alright.” Was all that she said until the light grew even brighter, making Iszac shut his eyes tight and cover them with his hand. He shook his head, and opened his eyes, getting ready to say something else, but she was gone, vanished without a trace.

“What… where did she go? Who was she?” Iszac thought, a bit shocked, but not scared, she seemed to have a benevolent aura about her. But there was something else…

“Excuse me!” A strong voice called out from behind Iszac. Iszac jumped up and saw a young woman, in a leather suit, and a red dog-like creature in the open doors of the church. They both walked towards Iszac slowly. “Who are you? What business do you have in this place?!”

“H-Huh? I don’t have any business… I just happened upon this place…” Iszac said, intimidated by the woman’s stride.

“This place in renovation, and you’re trespassing.” The woman said, getting closer to Iszac.

“I don’t sense any hostile energy with this person, Tifa, maybe dial the enforcer back a bit?” The red creature said, walking next to her.

“T-The dog… er… lion? Just talked… Is that normal?” Iszac asked in surprise, eyes widened.

“Of course he’s normal! But you aren’t, you dress too nice to be a citizen of Edge.” Tifa said, pointing her finger at Iszac.

“Umm… That’s because I woke up here… I’m just as clueless as you are at this moment in time…” Iszac said, holding up his empty hands.

“... He is armed, Tifa, be careful even if he’s not holding his weapon, he could have Materia.” the red dog said, growling.

“Thanks, Red XIII. Now, state your name.” Tifa said, grabbing Iszac by the shirt and pulling him closer to her.

“I-Iszac Cynth! Please, I don’t mean any harm…!” Iszac said frightfully.

Tifa stared into Iszac’s eyes intensely for what seemed like hours. Each second that actually passed seemed to drag on longer and cause Iszac more anxiety, unsure of what Tifa was going to do. Suddenly, she gave a small smile and released Iszac, whom’s life flashed before his eyes, from her iron grip. 

“You seem to be telling the truth, just be glad I have a keen intuition.” Tifa nodded, “But, you can’t stay here, we should get you back to Edge.” 

“Yes, so we can see what Barret thinks of this stranger.” Red XIII said, rolling his eyes.

“Well, Barret is trying to renovate Edge, and I just hope that we won’t catch him in a bad mood.” Tifa sighed. “Iszac, was it? Follow me, and don’t step on the flowers.” Tifa said, leading him toward the doors of the church. All three of them walked out to the wasteland and they climbed into a buggy and rode it toward the town referred to as Edge. 

All the while, Iszac was not sure what was going on… Where was Nyx? He said that if he was dormant in his medallion that he would communicate with Iszac via telepathy. Did he leave him back at the church? Did something happen to him? He didn’t know that he would be thrown into the belly of the beast this soon. He looked out the buggy window and noticed there were a lot of ruined buildings and large pieces of rubble everywhere. It was like he was in a post-apocalypse world…

“That’s because it is Gaia in Post Apocalypse.” Nix’s voice said in Iszac’s head, making Iszac freak out a bit in the back seat.

“Are you okay, Iszac?” Red XIII asked, tilting his head.

“Y-Yeah, I thought I saw something out there in the ruins… it was just a weird building.” Iszac said laughing it off unconvincingly.

“I see, well, we should properly introduce ourselves. I am Nanaki, warrior of Cosmo Canyon, but if you wish, you may call me Red XIII, if you wish.” Red XIII looked at him, and nodded.

“I-It’s nice to meet you, Nanaki… I really like that name, it sounds pretty cool.” Iszac said, smiling, feeling less scared now. 

“And I’m Tifa Lockhart, a member of AVALANCHE, an organization working to rebuild and care for our Planet. 

“Oh? That’s pretty cool.” Iszac said, “Such a noble cause… but… what happened here?” 

“This used to be a city that was built on machines that extracted energy from the Planet and converts it to electrical energy. They were called Mako Reactors, and there was a reactor for every communal sector in the city formally known as Midgar. Long story short, a Meteor was heading to destroy the Planet, we stopped it, and it resulted in the destruction of Midgar and the rebirth of society, resulting in our current city Edge.” Tifa explained.

“Edge is made of the outskirts of Midgar’s Sector 3 and Sector 4. Those were the only sectors that weren’t afflicted with Mako contamination.” Nanaki anecdoted with a nod.

“Ah… That makes sense… So, about Edge… is it AVALANCHE’s base of operations now?” Iszac tilted his head, noticing they were getting closer to the city.

“It is, we are working together with other organizations to rebuild a new, less destructive city.” Tifa assured as she continued to drive toward Edge, soon driving through it. Edge was like a typical city, except it wasn’t as colorful or bustling as Crystal City was. There were many different buildings of various heights and volumes, all either weathered, or in renovation. Iszac was surprised how much it reminded him of Crystal River, except, maybe a little bit less busy. There were children all around the city playing, or doing errands for their parents who were working on renovating their homes about 2 blocks up. Eventually, Tifa had parked the buggy in front of a two story building, pretty wide with different colorful flowers in each of the windowsills. The sign above the awning read, “Tifa’s 7th Heaven.” Outside was a young girl, about 10-12ish, sweeping the porch of the building when they pulled up and got out of the buggy.

“Oh, Tifa! Welcome back! Umm, who is he?” the girl asked, looking at Iszac.

“Good to be back, Marlene. Oh, Marlene, this is Iszac, we saw a flash over the church and went to investigate, and found him inside. So we’re gonna take him in for questioning.”

“What?! You said nothing about questioning! I demand a lawyer!” Iszac’s eyes shrunk as he panicked.

“Well, it’s not gonna be a questioning, more like, we’ll be keeping an eye on him. But he has to meet Barret.” Tifa said, ignoring Iszac and keeping all attention on Iszac. “So, while I’m gone, I want you and Denzel to keep Iszac company inside the bar.”

“Oh… umm, actually, there are two men who are waiting for you inside already.” Marlene said, biting her lip a bit.

Tifa’s eyebrow raised as she looked into the bar. She walked in and pushed open the door, and saw two guys in suits, one with messy red hair, and one bald with sunglasses sitting at the bar, turning to the door, drinks in hand. A young boy looking up from behind the bar, and waves with a smile.

“Tifa, you’re back!” Denzel said, kind of relieved he didn’t have to be alone with these two scary men anymore.

“... Reno, Rude, what a surprise…” Tifa said, sighing, ushering the others in.

“Tifa! So good to see you again, I was wondering when you’d come back. And don’t worry, we paid.” Reno said, sipping his drink with a toothy grin. Rude nodded, sipping a bit as well.

“... First of all, what is it that you want?” Tifa asked, crossing her arms, Nanaki curled his body around Marlene protectively, and Iszac looked around at the situation, feeling a bit out of place.

“Well, it’s just that the boss is looking for Cloud, he wants to talk to him, but, you know, he would be good to talk to anyone involved with the flash that happened over the church.” Reno said, his taser rod lightly tapping on the bar cheekily.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know what the flash was, I was looking around at the church, and found nothing of interest.” Tifa said, lying, not trusting the Turks even after everything that has happened.

Rude put down his drink and gave Iszac eye contact. “That face is new.” Rude said, shaking everyone but Iszac because Rude rarely says anything.

“Ahh, good eye, Rude. Yeah, who is that guy? He looks a bit too flashy for a rough and tumble town like Edge.” Reno said, pointing to Iszac with the taser rod, making Iszac get defensively silent.

“He’s someone I picked up. He wants to join AVALANCHE.” Tifa responded without skipping a beat. “I was actually going to have Marlene and Denzel watch him while I go get Barret, he needs to meet him to become an AVALANCHE member.”

“Oh? Seems a bit irresponsible to leave two kids alone with a stranger.” Reno said, sipping his beer.

“I mean, you two are a bit stranger in this situation, two full grown men having drinks in a bar managed by two kids… In fact, that’s a bit more of a messy situation.” Iszac said, then began weighing the options.

“Whose side are you on?!” Tifa growled at Iszac, “Regardless, I have to get Barret, and I don’t think either of you are on good terms with him, so unless you want a beat down, stick around.” Tifa pointed out. 

“Nah, we’re just leaving.” Reno said a bit too quickly, tossing a tip to Denzel. “We’ll be back another time, who knows, maybe we’ll find Cloud before then. See ya.” Reno got up and left the bar, winking at Iszac. Rude walked through, turning his head toward Iszac and followed Reno out.

“Ugh… Those two…” Tifa rubbed her temples, “Nanaki, could you stay here with Iszac and the kids until I get back with Barret?”

“Of course, leave it to me.” Nanaki sat and licked his paw a bit.

“Thank you, and if Iszac tries anything, do whatever you have to.” Tifa said coldly.

“... You’re acting like I’m someone like Reno and Rude, like they are legit the only ones around here who I’ve seen wear a suit in this town, and another thing, what kind of names are Reno and Rude?” Iszac said.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that, Denzel and Marlene mean the world to all of us, we don’t take any chances when it comes to them.” Tifa looked at Iszac, pulling him closer to him, which was only scary the first time.

“... You legit were about to leave me alone with them, and what, praytell, was Nanaki gonna be doing? Going out on a hot date?” Iszac pointed out in deadpan.

“Well, my species’ tails are literally on fire. Besides, have you seen Deneh?” Nanaki said, looking at Iszac.

“... Just shut up, don’t try anything stupid, and I’ll be back with Barret shortly.” Tifa said, letting Iszac go, before giving Marlene and Denzel a big hug, and walked out of the building.

Iszac looked at the three people who were in charge of him. He felt like the child that their parents never trusted, no matter what he did or didn’t do. He took notice that Nanaki took a seat at the front door, and then laid down, watching over all three intently. Denzel got handed the broom by Marlene, who went behind the counter and began to clean the glass mugs that Reno and Rude left behind. Iszac felt so out of place, but he needed to find a way to communicate with Nyx, or bring him out.

“Umm, excuse me… Marlene? Where’s the bathroom?” Iszac asked, closing his legs tightly, going bow-legged.

“It’s down that corridor first door to your left.” Marlene said, smiling. Iszac thanked her and went off to the bathroom.

Iszac closed the door and locked it, resting his back against the door. He closed his eyes, and tried to get in contact with Nix.

“Nix… Nix, are you there?” Iszac said lowly.

“Iszac, it’s okay, I’m here. Are you okay?” Nix said in Iszac’s mind reassuringly, Iszac wanted to slide down and sit on the floor, but regardless of how clean the floor was, he didn’t trust public restrooms.

“Nix, where are you? Are you in my medallion?” Iszac asked. “I could have sworn that we held hands when we went through the portal.

“Yeah… I’m sorry about that… I didn’t know which Gaia it was going to be… This Gaia is pretty hard for a Guardian Beast like me to manifest and come out, even in human form.

“This… Gaia? What is wrong with this Gaia?” Iszac furrowed his eyebrows and paced paced back and forth.

“See, this Gaia is the center of life and death. There is something called a Lifestream that exists within the planet, and it is essentially the red and white blood cells of Gaia. Because of the magic within this planet, it combats my being, it almost hurts to be in physical form on this planet.” Nix explained.

“What? So you won’t be able to come out at all?” Iszac asked, eyes widened. “I-I don’t know if I can do this alone, Nix…”

“Well, there is one way that I can take form without repercussions in this world… The Cetra and Guardian Beasts have had connections for generations, the Cetra are able to communicate and understand the planet, and its many creatures. This includes Guardian Beasts, this is because The Cetra lets the Planet know that it is or isn’t okay with a Guardian Beast that isn’t native to Gaia.” Nix continued, but trailed off sadly.

“R-Really?! W-Well, I just need to find the Cetra then!” Iszac said, smiling.

“Unfortunately… The last Cetra has left the mortal plane and has become one with the Lifestream. It’s been several years now… And without a Cetra, I am basically an unwelcome guest to Gaia…”

“S-So… I’m alone here?” Iszac asked, “I have to fend for myself?” 

“Unless you find someone who the Cetra had put an impression on, I’m afraid so…” Nix sighed.

“... I-If that’s the case… then I need to press forward… There isn’t gonna be anything done if I just mope around in the bathroom…” Iszac said, running his fingers through his hair, and looked at himself in the mirror above the sink. “Although I would be lying if I said that I’m ready for this… I still haven’t done any kind of combat…”

“Which is why I was hoping that we could do some combat training before we went through the portal.” Nix pointed out, “If someone wasn’t so eager to see different dangerous world, then that same someone wouldn’t be so unprepared, now would he?”

“...You’re not gonna let this go, are you?” Iszac asked.”

“You can’t see me, but I’m nodding in a very extra and unnecessary manner.” Nix said, as-a-matter-of-factly. 

Suddenly, there was a knock at the restroom door. “Umm, sorry to interrupt your mental peptalk, but I really have to go…” Denzel said urgently.

Iszac blinked and cleared his throat. “O-Of course, I’ll be right out.” Iszac said as he began washing his hands and splashed some water on his face. He walked out of the bathroom as Denzel zoomed right on in, closing and locking the door. Iszac shook his head in amusement and walked back out, and went over to the bar, sitting down. “So… Marlene, right? Your father, Barret… What’s he like?” Iszac asked, tilting his head.

“Oh? Well, he’s pretty loud, scary when he gets mad, and he uses a lot of bad words… But he doesn’t hold a candle to Uncle Cid’s vocabulary.” Marlene said, earning a chuckle from Nanaki.

“That wins Understatement of the Year. Every other word Cid says is a cuss word. He probably wakes up saying the same word, no matter if it’s a good dream or a nightmare.” Nanaki snickered, resting his head on the floor, his tail wagging slightly.

“But he’s a caring, and reasonable person when you get to know him.” Marlene continued, smiling at Iszac. “I don’t think you should have any problems with meeting him.”

“I see, that’s a relief...” Iszac said, but then remembered something, he saw it subconsciously on Tifa, and Nanaki, and then saw it on Marlene. “By the way… Why was Tifa wearing a ribbon on her arm?” He asked, from behind him, Nanaki’s ears perked up.

“O-Oh… umm… I asked Tifa that too… She said it’s to remember their friend by… I don’t know a lot about the details, but Tifa, Red XIII, my dad, and other people, saved this world from destruction, and along their journey, there was a girl named Aerith… I only knew her for a few moments, but she was a very sweet person. She was with them on their journey… before she…” Marlene trailed off, seeing Nanaki’s expression go sad. Iszac pieced it together.

“O-Oh my… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a sad subject… I was just curious…” Iszac said, frowning.

“Well, you know what they say about curiosity,” Nanaki said, “I would advise to avoid that subject if you talk to any of us wearing the ribbons in the future.”

“W-Well noted.” Iszac said uneasily, before turning back to Marlene. “Umm, I saw different flowers outside of the windows, they’re so vibrant.” Iszac said, trying to change the subject.

“Thank you! I grew them myself. I want to make everyone remember the good that this world has to offer, everyone seems to enjoy my flowers.” Marlene smiled hopefully, never getting tired of compliments for her flowers. “It’s weird, I’ve never been able to really grow anything until a few years ago, but I’m so glad I can now.

It was odd, seeing Marlene’s smile made her being change to the young woman he saw at the church for a split second, Iszac blinked in surprise, but then softened his expression into a small grin. “I’m happy that you found a way to spread the love that this world needs,” Iszac said with content, “Don’t ever lose sight of the light that shines from you.” Iszac continued, make Marlene nod with a smile. Suddenly, there was a scream from outside. Nanaki’s ears perked up instantly, turning his head.


	3. How Did You do That with Your Mouth?

“W-What the?” Iszac gasped, getting up from the barstool.

Nanaki got up, and looked at Iszac and Marlene. “You three and Denzel, stay here.” Was all he said as he burst through the door and disappeared off the porch.

“R-Red, wait!” Marlene said, then saw Denzel run out from the backroom wielding a long metal pole. “Den!”

“What? I’m not gonna leave him out there!” Denzel said, twirling the pole around as he ran out after Nanaki.

Iszac’s eyes widened as he looked at Marlene, then back to the door. “I don’t want to leave you alone… That wouldn’t be responsible of me…”

Marlene frowned. “I know but… I don’t wanna just stand here and do nothing…” Marlene looked around, realizing something, and went to the corner under the bar, and opened something, and took out three different green orbs and one blue orb. “Tifa said to never use these unless it’s an emergency…” She said, but then took out an armlet and equipped all four orbs to the armlet after putting it on herself. “So I won’t be totally defenseless.”

Iszac blinked, and smiled. “You’re a very strong person… How old are you again?”

“I’m twelve.” Marlene said, making Iszac’s eyes widen in surprise. Iszac was still a huge mess when he was twelve, so he was glad that there were definitely people out there who have themselves more together.

“Well, Marlene, just stick close by me. I won’t let any harm come to you.” Iszac said, but then they heard a roar of pain from outside. “No more time, let’s go!”

Marlene and Iszac ran out of the bar, and noticed several monsters outside, they were closing in on a wounded Nanaki, and an overwhelmed Denzel. Iszac jumped down and ran to their rescue, Marlene running close behind Iszac, and got in between them.

“Get out of here! Leave this town!” Iszac said, wielding his two daggers.

“Red, Den, are you okay?!” Marlene asked, turning her head, being in the back of the fight.

“Ugh… Marlene… What are you doing?” Nanaki asked, trying to get up.

“D-Don’t! We can handle them!” Denzel grunted. All of a sudden, one of the monsters charged at Iszac, making him evade, and then slashed through the monster with his daggers. While Marlene closed her eyes and charged up a spell, using a Lightning spell on all of the monsters, taking it the one that Iszac attacked.

“Don’t worry, nothing to it!” Iszac said, smirking as he got back into his guarded stance, and went to attack another monster, taking it out, but got hit by another one of them, knocking him down. He saw Marlene had taken another out with an Ice spell. But the last one was baring its teeth and charged at the unaware Marlene. “NO!” Iszac yelled as he jumped up and ran over to Marlene, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the way, and putting himself in her stead, much to Marlene’s shock as she saw Iszac took the bite for her. When Iszac and Marlene’s hand came in contact, it was like something inside of Marlene opened its eyes, like feeling a surge of power rushed through her. Iszac took the bite, and countered, kicking the beast off, and with a swift turn, combined his daggers into the Daggerbow, and pulled back a non-existent string, which made an arrow out of pure energy. Iszac let it go, letting the arrow fly through the monster like an Olympic Diver into the pool in perfect form, killing the monster indefinitely.

Nanaki, Denzel, and Marlene had watched the attack Iszac used with utter shock, no one has ever been able to do something like that in their world. But no one was just as surprised as Iszac was. He never knew that something that seemed so simple could be so deadly, as simple as a Daggerbow can be. But all of a sudden, Iszac felt nauseous, everything looked like it was spinning around him, he fell back and passed out in the street. He heard voices gradually growing more muffled as he was slowly slipped into unconsciousness. He almost could have sworn he heard a gatling gun just as his vision turned black. 

\---

“This isn’t good… as powerful of an arrow as you used… you used too much of your soul with what little you have control over… You’ll have to learn… how to control your Arrow of Awakening… Just don’t over do it next time… alright, Iz?”

\---

Iszac fluttered his eyes open and grunted awake, and turned his head a bit, seeing Marlene with a smile of relief, Denzel was behind her, leaning on the wall, holding the polearm he fought with earlier. Iszac gasped as he tried to sit up pretty fast, but plopped back onto the bed for getting up too fast.

“Don’t strain yourself, Iszac… I’m so glad you’re awake.” Marlene said, taking the rag off Iszac’s head.

“Marlene…! Are you okay?! You didn’t get hurt did you?!” He asked as frantically as he could, still trying to really wake up.

“I’m fine… We’re all fine, Denzel and Nanaki too, thanks to you.” Marlene reassured.

“You have some guts pulling the stunt you did, but Marlene shouldn’t have gone out there. Barret’s pissed because he came back to his little girl in the middle of a fight with monsters.” Denzel said, “And equipped with the Emergency Materia no less.”

“At least I equipped some Materia, Den. Or do I have to tell Tifa that?” Marlene asked, making Denzel go silent.

“Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe…” Iszac sighed, “What happened? How long was I out?”

“For a couple of hours, you… You don’t remember what happened? You pulled me out of the way and took the attack of the monster… Then you killed it with your weapon…” Marlene explained.

“Oh yeah, how did you do that? That arrow just came out of nowhere, there wasn’t even a string attached to the bow.” Denzel added.

“Den… he’s probably exhausted, just go and let everyone know that he’s awake.” Marlene said, but turned back to Iszac as he raised himself up slowly.

“I’ll be fine… I need to talk to this Barret.” Iszac said, lifting himself up out of bed, seeing that he had no bite mark on his shoulder. “... Who patched me up?” 

“I did… One of the Materia I equipped was Restore.” Marlene said, smiling. “But thankfully you were receptive to Restore, otherwise it would have been a bit more work. Oh, and Dad wanted to talk to you as soon as you got up.” Marlene got up, and helped Iszac up. 

“Yeah, follow us.” Denzel said, going out of the room, with Marlene letting Iszac go in front of her. “Don’t be disrespectful to him, we all owe him our lives.”

“Don’t worry about that… I don’t think I want to go out by disrespecting someone who owns a gun…” Iszac replied uneasily.

“Wow, he really isn’t native to Edge.” Denzel scoffed.

“Don’t mind him… But, Iszac…” Marlene began a bit quietly, “When you grabbed my hand… could you… feel anything?” 

Iszac blinked and looked at Marlene. “Umm, I don’t know what you mean…”

Marlene shook her head. “I’ll tell you later... Just go inside.” She said, gesturing to the double doors down the hall. Iszac stopped and went in front of the doors. Iszac hesitated as he opened the doors and went inside, going through an antechamber before going into the big meeting room.

“What the hell do you mean Cloud’s missing?!” a gruff voice asked sternly.

“He and Yuffie went missing. The last time I saw him, they went off to find Vincent and Shelke.” Tifa’s voice said, worried, “And that was three weeks ago, when the first flash happened…”

“There was a second flash?!”

“Yes, and Iszac appeared after it happened. I’m not sure who appeared with the first flash. Cloud thinks that Vincent could have some information about it. I mean, we don’t know if he’s another remnant... you saw what he could do.”

“But weren’t the remnants taken care of before the curing of the Geostigma? You really think a kid like that could be another remnant of Sephiroth?”

“No one has gotten back to us, Barret. Cloud and Yuffie are gone, Cait Sith is inactive, Vincent still hasn’t gotten a cell phone, and Cid is more belligerent than usual. We are all in the dark, and even though I have a good feeling about him in the beginning, after seeing what we saw, we can’t take any more chances.”

Iszac blinked, listening to this conversation before he knocked on the doorway. “Umm… Is this a bad time?” Iszac asked, peeking out from the doorway.

“Oh, you’re awake. Come in, and have a seat.” Tifa said, pulling out a chair for Iszac to which he reluctantly took a seat.

“Umm… Am I in trouble? Did I do something wrong?” Iszac asked, looking at Tifa and then looked at Barret who leaned in closer across the table from him.

“Well, we don’t know… First of all, I would like to thank you for rescuing Marlene, but I don’t like that you had Marlene fighting, she isn’t supposed to be anywhere near the fight. At all. In fact, why did you let Denzel go out? Red could have handled them.” Barret said, clenching his fists, including the robotic prosthetic hand.

“To be honest… Denzel made that decision to fight… I don’t think he would have listened to me no matter what I say… And Marlene prepared because she didn’t want t-” Iszac began explaining himself only to be interrupted by a slam of Barret’s open palms, shaking the whole room.

“I DON’T GIVE A SINGLE @$%& IF MARLENE WAS PREPARED, I DON’T WANT MARLENE TO BE FIGHTING AND PUTTING HERSELF IN DANGER!” Barret shouted, vein popping out his neck and forehead, but there was a beep and a black bar that went over his mouth at the curse.

“... How are you doing that with your mouth?” Iszac asked, trying to diffuse the situation, despite his heart racing at a Gold Chocobo’s speed.

“SHUT THE HELL UP, WHO GIVES A @$%&?!” Barret growled and beeped again, but then breathed a bit in and out after catching a glimpse of Tifa. “... All I wanna know, is who you are, where you come from, and what you are doing appearing the way you did at the church.”

“W-Well… My name is Iszac Cynth, I… I…” Iszac started, but then began to think, maybe he shouldn’t let on that he’s from another world, cause it could disrupt the balance, or something like that, could have been something that Nyx, or Gilgamesh could have mentioned… But no, he had to put two and two together and somehow made six. “I don’t remember where I came from… All I remember was waking up on the bed of flowers in the church, I tried to get my bearings, and then Tifa and Red came in and took me in…” Iszac said, not mentioning that he had seen the girl tend to the flowers, I mean he wasn’t technically lying.

“... Why do I not believe you? Tifa, please tell me why I don’t believe this him?” Barret crossed his arms, glaring at Iszac, then at Tifa.

“... Iszac, if that is your real name, I advise you to tell the truth, because if you don’t there will be consequences.” Tifa said, gripping his shoulder.

Iszac could feel Nix trying to protect him, he could hear him saying, “Stay strong.” Or, “Don’t give in.” Or, “Snitches get stitches.” Actually that one was Stiltzkin.

“I swear on my dying breath, I do not know how I got to the church. All I know was that I woke up there...” Iszac frantically looking at Tifa and Barret, switching his gaze back and forth.

They stood in silence for a minute, and Barret crossed his arms and in the calmest voice he said, “Tifa, take him to his room. Do not let him leave here. We will get some answers when Cloud gets back. Maybe it’ll take an unreadable man to read and unreadable man.”

Iszac’s eyes widened as he got up to protest, but then, Tifa grabbed a pressure point, making Iszac pass out.

\---

“Iz… did you fall again? Come here… it doesn’t look bad, you’re not bleeding… Shhh, it’s okay, I’m here… I know it hurts now, but when we fall, and when we hurt, we get back up and keep the journey going. Don’t let the hurt stop your journey, kay…?”

\---

Iszac opened his eyes groggily and sat up in his bed. He was still in Gaia, not in his own room. He looked at his wrist, and saw a bangle with a purple Materia glinting in his eye. He couldn’t believe that he was being held prisoner, for saving a girl whom he had just met. He didn't feel like a hero, he felt like a mistake. Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door, which made him jump a bit.

“W-Who’s there?” Iszac asked, reaching for his daggers, but he was disarmed of them.

“It’s Marlene…” She said, opening the door up quietly and closed it behind her. “I have to talk to you…”

“W-Why? Are you gonna knock me out too?” Iszac asked, recoiling as Marlene drew near.

“No… I’m so sorry, I didn’t know that Dad was gonna imprison you like this…” Marlene frowned and looked down, “But I need to ask you something…”

“I don’t know how I ended up in the church, I already told Barret and Tifa this… And… I don’t know what I should do anymore…” Iszac said, looked down at his bed.

“When you came here… Did you see a girl with long brown hair, braided back with a red ribbon?” Marlene asked, to which Iszac looked up in surprise.

“... How did you know that?” Iszac perked up not immediately, but he leaned in slightly.

“Because I have a feeling that you didn’t just end up in the church…” Marlene said, "That girl... was Aerith."

“A-Aerith? That sweet flower girl was Aerith…?” Iszac asked, “She’s the reason why Tifa, Nanaki, and Barret wear the ribbon on their arm…”

“That’s right… I’ve only met her once, she saved me, and I appreciate her taking care of me… But I can’t help but feel like she did more than save me…” Marlene sat down on the bed next to Iszac. “And I realized that when you grabbed my hand to take the attack in my place… I felt… another pulse from deep within my heart… It’s something that I felt... had been there ever since I met Aerith.”

“What are you saying?” Iszac asked uneasily, not sure what way this was gonna go.

“Close your eyes and hold out your hands.” Marlene said, Iszac was a bit weirded out, but complied nonetheless. He held out his hands and concentrated, and soon, he felt Marlene’s hand join with his. “Keep them closed… and imagine you are in an open field, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming. Breathe in through the nose… breathe out through the mouth… Block out all outside noises, and focus on my voice…” Marlene guided to which Iszac reluctantly relaxed and tried to block out all noises. But he couldn’t hear much except for some faint, weird, breath-like noises.

“W-What are those sounds?” Isazc asked, frowning a bit in fear.

“They… are the sounds of the planet.” Marlene said simply. 

“It sounds like someone is inhaling and exhaling magic… It’s so entrancing…” Iszac said with a smile of pure serenity. 

“It really is… I enjoy how the rhythm matches with our own breathing…” Marlene trailed off a bit. “But there are times… when I hear-!”

Marlene was cut off by a fade in of a high-pitched wail, growing a bit louder as seconds drew on. Iszac’s serene smile grimaced down into a frown and began to cringe and clench his teeth at the ethereal shriek.

“W-What is that?!” Iszac gasped, not opening his eyes.

“... That is Gaia… screaming…” Marlene whimpered a bit, “She senses that something is wrong… and is trying to reach out to whoever is listening… But… I’m the only one who can hear her… but… you can too…”

Iszac kept on hearing Gaia screaming and started getting upset, tears formed on the corners of his eyes, he could feel pain, fear, and sadness from the planet. “P-Please… I can’t take feeling her hurt!” He hyperventilated, gritting his teeth, forehead sweating madly. Marlene opened her eyes and gasped at Iszac, letting his hands go, to which Iszac’s hands shot up and covered his face as he sobbed quietly. 

“You can feel her hurting? She’s still hurting?” Marlene asked, trying to comfort Iszac who started to visibly calm down after not hearing the planet anymore.

“Yes… Something is still ailing her… But I don’t know what…” Iszac said, sniffling a bit, and wiping his eyes.

“... I don’t know if it has something to do with your arrival, or maybe something else… But we need to find out what… That’s why I’m helping you escape Edge.” Marlene said.

“W-What? You’d help me escape? Why?” Iszac asked.

“Not just helping you… I’m coming with you.” Marlene said.

“W-What?! But we barely know each other, why are you trusting someone who you don’t even know for a whole day?!” Iszac hissed quietly, just in case someone was passing by outside. “I barely trust myself to drink water everyday.”

"I trust you, because this isn’t even your world, and you don’t like that this world is in pain. If there is something hurting the planet, Aerith wouldn’t just stand around and do nothing, she would do something… And it’s high time that I do something too.” Marlene said, smiling. “I don’t even know what your purpose here is… but you have a good heart, and Aerith must have seen that if the first thing you saw when you woke up in the church was Aerith’s spirit.” Marlene said, holding her hands together. “Please, I need your help… I can’t do this by myself, and I can’t trust that my dad will listen to me...”

Iszac’s eyes widened as she brought up a good point. And seeing her this passionate about this new power she has, and her willingness to use it for good, it made him happy to see someone want to make a change, especially someone so young. He smiled and nodded. “Of course I’ll help you. But first thing’s first… We need to get out of here… Where do we even start, in fact… where do we go?”

Marlene thought about it. “I mean, there is the town of Kalm nearby, it’ll be a journey, but maybe we can snatch a buggy.” She said, but other than that, I’m not sure… Do you have any ideas?”

“... I mean, I overheard Tifa and Barret talking, someone named Cloud and Yuffie have gone missing trying to find someone…” Iszac said, which made Marlene’s eyes widen.

“Oh... they were trying to find Vincent, to tell him about the flash that happened near the church I think…” Marlene inquired, “But, come to think of it, it's been three weeks since that flash happened, before you came here.”

“I heard Tifa say that too, and I don't like the idea that someone came here before me… but I don’t know if Kalm is the right place, if we went there, they could have people recognize us immediately… especially it being near Edge...” Iszac said, thinking about it. “... We need to travel by air… something that’s fast…”

“The only thing that could travel by air is Uncle Cid’s airship, Highwind… But… he’s not here, he’s... well, I don’t know where he is…” Marlene thought about it. “Unless… no, we shouldn’t… I mean… maybe… we could ask for help from… those two who came into Tifa’s 7th Heaven… But, they caused some trouble in the past… I’m scared of them…”

“You mean… Reno and Rude? I mean, they were trying to find me, and not even knowing that I was the one they were looking for…” Iszac trailed off and shook his head. “But, why would they be looking for me?”

“I don’t know, but whatever it was… I don’t exactly trust them…” Marlene frowned

“... We don’t have a choice, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be the guy that gets caught and is tried in court for kidnapping the daughter of the leader of AVALANCHE…” Iszac chuckled uneasily.

“... Better them than you, I guess?” Marlene said, giggling herself.

“Not if I can help it.” Nanaki voice said to the two of them, stepping in, baring his teeth.


	4. The Queen Bee Inn

“Nanaki! How long have you been there?!” Marlene asked, Iszac jumped and fell off the bed.

“Long enough to know what you’re planning, you know what Tifa, let alone Barret would do to Iszac if you went through with this?” Nanaki asked. “And regardless of that face, how can you trust him that much? He came from that flash from the church.”

“What is it with these people and strange lights?” Iszac popped his head out and rubbed his head.

“Red, Iszac is our friend, I trust him... he helped me find something out about myself.” Marlene said, smiling.

“Oh? And what would that be?” Nanaki sat down, and tilted his head, eyelids lazily open.

Marlene then closed her eyes and her hands began to glow. Suddenly, there were swirls of air going around the room gently, and it made herself, Iszac, and Nanaki feel a bit more revitalized. Nanaki’s eyes widened as he took a few steps back, realizing his limp was gone.

“H-Healing Wind? That’s impossible… the only one who could do that was… Aerith…” Nanaki said, blinking in shock.

“She showed me when she took me to her house, all those years ago…” Marlene said looking at Nanaki. “It’s no coincidence that Iszac is here with us… He’s here for a reason. And I think we could find out what is causing the planet’s distress.” 

Nanaki looked at Marlene and then Iszac and sighed. “... So what’s your plan? You need to find Cloud, right? Mind telling me where you’re gonna start?”

Marlene blinked and bit her lip. “Well… Cloud and Yuffie were going to find Vincent… So… really our only real lead would probably be… Umm…”

Iszac blinked and closed his eyes, trying to think.. “We need to find a boat…” Iszac suddenly said, “Cause I don’t think they’re anywhere on this continent.”

Nanaki blinked at Iszac and raised an eyebrow. “How do you know? Are you sure you don’t know Gaia?”

Iszac looked at Nanaki and then to his hands. “... No… I don’t believe I’ve been here on Gaia… And I can only infer that if Tifa and Barret haven’t heard from Cloud, and they have apparently had a search going on, he must be on another continent.” He sighed, but then remembered. “Oh, if we’re gonna go… umm two things… I need my weapons back, and, Marlene… There’s a favor I have to ask…”

Nanaki blinked. “Hmm… Well, I believe I know where your knives are, I’ll be back with them.” He said, walking out.

Marlene looked at Iszac and listened to him, and her eyes widened, not in shock, but excitement.

“I knew it! I thought for sure that there was another strong presence resting within you!” Marlene pounded her fist into her open palm. “But… I’m not sure what to do to make your Guardian able to come out…”

“He told me, basically you opened the first seal, all we have to do is meditate again, but we need to also talk to Gaia.” Iszac explained, “I know I was a bit overwhelmed and scared by Gaia’s screams, but I’ll be alright. Please, I need your help.”

Marlene thought about it, blinking more than 5 times as she debated internally. Suddenly, she held out her hands to Iszac. “Let’s get your friend free.” She said as Iszac joined hands with her. It took a bit of meditation, but eventually, they both started glowing with golden light. And in the middle of their joining of the hands, was Nix, eyes closed and then blinking open as he looked at Iszac, suddenly giving Iszac a big hug, lifting him up a few inches.

“Ack! N-Nix! I’m glad to see you too, but… put me down…!” Iszac said, a bit freaked about being picked up.

“Sorry, I’m just relieved that you’re okay…” Nix said, then turned around to see a very surprised Marlene. “And this must be the Last Cetra. I am forever in your debt.” He said with a gratuitous smile.

“I-I’m Marlene Wallace, it’s nice to meet you.” Marlene introduced a bit shakily. 

“I am Nix. And the pleasure is all mine. It’s an honor to receive your blessing, as the Last Cetra, to set foot onto Gaia.” Nix said bowing.

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine. Okay… so, Iszac… do you have any ideas about how to get on a boat?” Marlene said, turning to Iszac.

Iszac put his hand on his chin and thought about it. “... We were talking about going to these two guys from earlier, and ask them for help with that.”

“Though I’m not sure where to start looking for them… They could very well already be gone...” Marlene bit her lip.

“Who is that?!” Nanaki asked from the doorway, baring his teeth at Nix.

“W-Whoa! Easy Nanaki, this is my Guardian, Nix. Marlene helped me bring him out from myself.” Iszac said, but then grew unsure of what he said. “It’s a long story… I’ll fill you in later, but for now… If Reno and Rude were assigned to learn more about the flash over the church, I’m sure they’re still in Edge.”

“You’re thinking about going to Reno and Rude? Out of the question.” Nanaki said, turning his head as he sat down inside the room.

“What? Why?” Nix asked, crossing his arms.

“Reno and Rude are part of the Turks, a gang of elite thugs that are controlled by the former president of Shinra Co. The company that owned the ruins of Midgar just beyond the outskirts of the church. Sorry, used to.” Nanaki explained bitterly. “And their boss now, even though he is trying to fix the damage he caused and the wrongs he’s done… I still don’t trust him, or them.”

“And plus… Reno and Rude might take you to him…” Marlene argued, “And whatever he might want… It might not be good…”

“You guys keep saying ‘Their boss’ or ‘The Boss’. Just who is their boss anyway?” Iszac asked tilted his head.

“President Rufus Shinra.” Denzel’s voice said from the doorway. “From what I’ve heard, he’s not the kindest man on the planet, and that’s an understatement.”

“... Okay, seriously, no one is watching the door? What if Barret or Tifa walk in here?” Iszac scolded the room.

“In my defense, I only just got here, and no one here knows me, so I’m not a good candidate for Door Watcher.” Nix said, laying on Iszac’s bed, crossing his legs, arms folded behind his head.

“Anyway, what are you guys doing? Isn’t he supposed to be locked in here?” Denzel asked, holding his metal pipe.

“Den… There’s no time to explain it all, but we’re going to find Cloud.” Marlene said looking at him. “Please don’t tell Dad or Tifa.”

“...Take me with you then.” Denzel crossed his arms.

“Done.” Iszac said instantly, clapping his hands. “Alright everyone, we need to get out of here, because the longer we stay here, the more likely that we’ll be found out.” 

“Right, by the way, here are your knives.” Nanaki said, presenting them to Iszac.

“Thanks, alright. We need to find Reno and Rude. I know you guys say that’s not the best thing to do, but I don’t really see any other way, seeing as how we might be caught if we leave on foot, or be too loud if we steal a car and crazy ride it out of here.” Iszac said, looking at everyone. “Especially with a party this big… Any ideas where they might be?”

“Well, I’m just gonna put it out there… Maybe try one of the bars or restaurants?” Nanaki said, “I think I know which one they frequent.” 

The whole party stood outside of the Queen Bee Inn, a big, flashing establishment with a neon sign of a bee with make-up, a crown, and other smaller bees fawning over her. There were definitely a bunch of men there. 

“It used to be called the Honey Bee Inn back in the Sector 5 Slums town, Wall Market, but ever since Edge came up, the Honey Bee Inn became the Queen Bee Inn.” Marlene said, “Not only a brothel, but a bar and restaurant.”

Iszac’s eyes widened at Marlene’s explanation, mostly because she knew what a brothel was. “H-How old are you again?”

“Well, who’s going to go in?” Nanaki asked, looking at them.

“W-Wait… what do you mean who’s going in?” Iszac asked, looking at Nanaki.

“Well, the restaurant service ends around 11pm, so after 11pm, kids aren’t allowed inside, and no animals are allowed.” Denzel said, pointing to the signs that say the exact same thing.

“Wait, then how did Nanaki know that Reno and Rude frequent this bar?” Iszac looked at Iszac.

“... One of my allies informed me of this, so I remember to steer clear.” Nanaki said extra vaguely.

“That doesn’t even make any sense, how are you gonna stop steering clear when you can’t even go inside?” Nix asked, turning his head and squinting his eyes.

“Regardless… That only leave 3 people to just lay low… So… Iszac, you and Nix are the only ones who are able to go inside.” Marlene said toeing the ground.

“... Is really no one gonna even ask my age? Like do I look old enough to not get carded?” Iszac asked, looking at them all. “I could be 15 and just be a lummox.”

“Iszac, legit we are almost the same height.” Nix said, “And you’re 22, you’ll be fine.” Nix patted his back.

“I get it… fine…” Iszac said, walking inside with Nix next to him. Inside, there was a queen hosting with brown hair in a beehive updo with a topaz honeycomb hair decoration, she wore a black and yellow striped mermaid gown, shoulders showing and her upper chest had been glowing with gold glitter, probably signifying pollen.

“Welcome to the Queen Bee Inn, our bar is open and karaoke is open as well, if you wish to have a room for pleasure, please ask our go to girl, Ambrosia, for the room choice.” She said, smiling, “Tips are greatly appreciated to our flowers, and our worker bees watching over our establishment. And if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to talk to me, Miss Paula Nating.” 

Iszac smiled, and nods. “T-Thank you. I love your dress.” Iszac said, as they walked past her. “That is amazing to see, I hope she gets paid very well.” 

Nix looked around. “She did make us feel welcome… but the question is… where is Reno and Rude?”

Iszac looked around where they were standing, scanning the room, it was a busy building, lots of moving spotlights, neon lights, and black lights mingling and adding to the ecstasy and excitement. Though as much as there were many different girls entertaining men, there were several men going up to a few of the buff bodybuilder men that looked like were either standing guard, or waiting expectantly. He kept it up, until he set his eyes on one of the booths, he saw a suited man with messy red hair sitting on one side with two girls on both sides of him, and a suited bald man with no girls on the side he was sitting on. He gestured to Nix and started walking toward the booth.

“Haha! H-Hey, careful, that tickles! Rude, come on, why don’t you ever lighten up? Live a little!” Reno had said, leaning closer to Rude from the otherside of the booth table. “Here, why don’t you take one of the girls? Who do you like? The lovely Daffodil, or the adorable Hydrangea?”

Rude hadn’t removed his sunglasses so he didn’t show his eyes or his brows. He just looked stoic, except for the fact that he turned his head to the wall.

“Aww, you’re so embarrassed, you’d rather have Tifa wouldn’t you?” Reno sneered, to which Rude blushed madly, and snapped his head back to face Reno. “AAHH! It’s so fun to tease you, I mean, at least get a real drink rather than cranberry juice.”

Rude shook his head, when he turned his head to the outside of the booth, he perked up when he saw Iszac and Nix standing there.

Reno raised an eyebrow and looked in the same direction. “Huh? Who are you? You got a problem or something?”

“Umm, Reno and Rude, right? I wanted to ask you something.” Iszac said.

“Well, we’re having the time of our lives, so, if you don’t mind just running along, we’ve got a big night ahead of us.” Reno said, tending to the girls on either side of him.

“Yeah, and I can see that the first thing on your mind is a threesome that one of you is watching…” Iszac, looking at Reno and the girls, and then Rude. “But anywho, you don’t want to miss what I have to say. It’s about the mysterious flash over the church everyone’s been talking about.”

Rude and Reno suddenly got serious, and looked at each other before looking back at Iszac. Reno had tipped the girls handsomely and told them to leave, which they did. Meanwhile, Nix had looked at Iszac, making sure he was okay to do this, and protect him if something went wrong.

Iszac looked at both Reno and Rude. “I was the one who came from the flash. I came to this world on a mission to search for something. And in order to find it, I need your help.” Iszac said, getting eerily tense, “We need a boat. I assume that your boss has a boat of his own?”

Meanwhile, outside, Marlene, Nanaki, and Denzel were hidden behind a pyramid of wooden boxes, waiting with bated breath.

“They’ve been in there too long… what if something happened in there?” Marlene stressed, pacing around.

“Don’t worry Marlene, they’ll be out soon, nothing is gonna happen.” Nanaki said reassuringly.

“Uhh… Not really sure about that… cause I see an entourage coming…” Denzel said, peeking over the boxes, which lead to Marlene and Nanaki peeking as well.

“Oh god, not this guy again…” Nanaki had a look of cringe creep over his face.

Back inside, Reno was laughing hysterically.

“Ahahaha! Oh my god, I can’t breheheathe! First of all kid, how much audacity do you have to take such a commanding, no not even, what’s the word I’m looking for… smug tone of voice with us? Thinking that we would ever believe a brat like you?” Reno had doubled over in his seat, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. “Second of all, to think we would do any favors for you. We hardly know anything about you. I half expect you to be playing us for fools. I mean, come from another world? I gotta say, you’d really make it as a stand up comedian, otherwise, I’d be insulted.”

Iszac knew how much of a stretch his fake confidence was, especially since he was very shy and silent when they had first encountered each other. But he was determined. He moved to speak but was stopped by a shooing gesture from Reno.

“Why don’t you move along and stop wasting our time, funny man. Right, Rude?” Reno said, looking for affirmation from his partner, but rose a brow as he saw that Rude had been looking at Iszac this whole time. “Wait a minute… you can’t be serious, him? This guy right here? This deadbeat, weirdly dressed comedy reject walks up to our booth spewing nonsense, and you believe him?”

“Sounds like the start of a cruel joke…” Nix said, crossing his arms.

“Reno. Think about it, if AVALANCHE didn’t know about his existence on this planet, it could be grounds for a lead for us. I’ve never seen someone dress like him on this planet. And why do you laugh about coming from another world, we both know it’s possible.” Rude said

“But is ‘possible’ enough for the boss?” Reno said under his breath, glaring daggers at Rude’s glasses.

“Look… I know it’s hard to believe, but you’re gonna have to trust me… I’m here to find something precious, and if we can help each other, it’ll be better for everyone involved… So what do you say? You willing to take a chance?” Iszac asked, alternating in looking at Reno and Rude.

Suddenly, the front doors burst open, stopping the music and causing everyone to turn their heads. 


End file.
